Thursday, July 10, 2014

10 new things in Union Budget 2014

For a post-interim budget presented by the new finance minister of the new Indian government ; the speech may have been a tad lengthy bordering on being called 'dreary.' But the annual document has its own charm in communicating a sense of direction that the country's economy should charter carrying along with it the  political chatter from the minority opposition. Leaving it to the experts to make a sense of the large figures of receipts & expenditures , I intend to provide the readers ten new schemes & activities that the new government has earmarked in this year's budget even though the actual allocation in some of the schemes may have been paltry.

  1. Earmarking 11635 crores for building 16 new ports in one shot (as well as projects on connectivity of ports) is a bold step in developing maritime infrastructure.  
  2. Developing internal waterways for haulage of medium-tonnage ships between Allahabad & Haldia on the Ganges at a cost of 4200 crores .
  3. Additional 15000 kms of gas grid to be developed to provide alternate source of energy to the households across the country.
  4. Promoting commercial Organic Farming in North east for export to developed countries by providing 100 crores.
  5. Incentivizing modernization  in the MSME sector  by giving an investment allowance for capital expenditures over 15 crores .
  6. An allocation of 1000 crores to jump-start a venture capital cum loan fund for the MSME sector.
  7. 500 crores for bridging the digital divide by providing broadband access to village level along with incentives for development of software  products.
  8. 100 crores for developing millennium-old  religious tourism through the setting up of National Mission for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation.
  9. Setting up of a sports university in Manipur in North-east for 100 crores.
  10. Setting up of SP Mukherjee Rurban mission to provide urban amenities in rural areas through a PPP route.
Overall in this budget; the renewed (in some cases totally new) focus on infrastructure, transport, physical & digital connectivity, manufacturing in MSME sector, organic farming, & sports , if properly implemented, will hopefully create a platform for bootstrapping economy that is riddled presently with unemployment, corruption & inflation.
 

No comments: